"Leo"
Leo is one of the four main playable characters in Oddity Description Dangerous, quiet, wild... This leader of a motorcycle gang is probably wanted all over the world. It's no wonder - on top of swinging around everything from cinder blocks to stop signs, Leo's a potent psychic! Appearance Leo is an adult in his thirties. Due to being an older party member, Leo is taller than Meryl, Floyd, Zack and Travis. He has fair skin, high cheekbones, jet-black hair, short sideburns, a large nose (when compared to the other main characters), an angular face and jawline, small brown eyes,[4] and thick black eyebrows. His hair is modeled after a 50's style pompadour. Leo wears a bright yellow shirt with dark yellow stripes, a black leather jacket with two gold buttons on the collar, light blue jeans, and a pair of brown shoes. However, concept art made by With A Hint of Lemon depicts Leo wearing an additional bright yellow scarf tucked into his jacket. Personality At first glance, Leo appears to be a shady character due to being the leader of a biker gang, but deep down, he has a heroic heart. As the oldest of the main party, Leo serves as a mature and experienced contrast to his younger and more innocent friends. Leo is a man of action and rarely uses words to get his point across. He represents the typical "bad boy" character and seems to be soft-spoken and taciturn in nature, being described by his character profile on the official Mother 4 website as "dangerous", "quiet" and "wild". However, an old character profile from 2014 also reveals he has a bad habit of getting impatient. The curt descriptions in his profile reveal that Leo feels uncomfortable with sharing personal information about his age and the hometown he lives in.2 This is probably due to being a wanted criminal who is constantly hounded by police. Abilities Leo is a potent psychic and is one of the three player characters in Oddity to be able to wield PSI powers. He is shown to know Photon VOX, Heat VOX, and Elec VOX in the Oddity gameplay trailer. He has enough control over his PSI powers that he was able to use a small flame generated from a Heat VOX as a cigarette lighter. However, it is also shown in the gameplay trailer that Leo also knows support-based ESP.Whether he will have the same moves as Travis or not is currently unknown. Leo is also a decent melee fighter. He uses whatever object he picks up as a weapon, including cinder blocks and stop signs.2 Development During development, out of the four main characters of Oddity Leo's background changed the most. When the game was headed by Chaisu, Leo was written as a homeless psychic teenager.7 During the game's first revamp, Leo was redesigned as a former businessman who turned to crime. After the game's second revamp (during which Chaisu left the project), Leo was turned into a psychic Greaser who is the leader of a biker gang and a wanted criminal hunted by police. Additionally, an old character biography from 2014 implies that Leo was a high school dropout. In Oddity 's early development, Leo also looked very different, due to his sprite being initially in Mother 3's art style. His first two sprites originally wore a black T-shirt with red lines, a gray belt with a silver buckle, dark blue jeans, a silver chain hanging from his right pocket, and gray shoes. He also had darker skin, a thinner and more slender nose, and a slightly rounder and softer face. The next two sprites that came after gave Leo an appearance that was similar to his final sprite, except he had a narrower face, red blush spots on his cheeks, lightly-colored shoes, and a flatter pompadour. His third sprite was also depicted with a "five o' clock shadow", though this was removed from his fourth sprite. Trivia * Leo has often been compared to Teddy, a character from Earthbound Beginnings. Both are young adults who are delinquents and leaders of their own gangs, and both can be recruited as a party member. They also share similar hairstyles. However, Leo has psychic powers, while Teddy does not. * Leo likes to smoke, as seen in the attract mode trailer6 and the old Level-up jingle video.8 His clay model is seen carrying a cigar in his right hand, and his idle animation shows him lighting a cigarette with PK Fire. * Leo's appearance and history as a biker seems to be based around the Greasers, a North American youth subculture that rose in the 1950's. Greasers are often characterized as wild and and adventurous youths who frequently rode motorcycles. The name came about from the use of hair products such as gel to produce a slicked-back look with their hair, hence the name "greasers". Ironically, while the Greaser subculture died out in the 1970's, it appears to be still thriving in Mother 4, which is said to take place in 197X. * The motorcycle Leo rides in the gameplay trailer9 is based on a Harley-Davidson cruiser. * Leo's name is Latin for "lion". * Leo's hometown is currently unknown, but according to the development team, he lives somewhere "way up north."10 * Leo is named after and based on an old logo artist for the Mother 4 team known as "Leo the Professional."11 * One of Leo's favorite foods is lobster.12 * Although Floyd, Travis, and Meryl like rock and roll, Leo prefers jazz.13 References # [https://blog.mother4game.com/post/146285450824/update-on-the-update-2 ↑ The Mother 4 blog] # [http://www.mother4game.com/ ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Character description on the original Mother 4 website] # [https://web.archive.org/web/20131203141904/http://www.mother4game.com/ ↑ Character description from late 2013 version of the original Mother 4 website] # [https://wahol-a-cola.tumblr.com/post/137175031472/i-hope-questions-like-this-are-alright-or-if ↑ Stated by Oddity concept artist Lemon] # ↑ The old gameplay trailer # [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=518VjSa_U14 ↑ 6.0 6.1 Mother 4's attract mode] # ↑ Stated by FlintofMother3 # ↑ Old Level-up jingle video # ↑ The old gameplay trailer # ↑ Page 209. Pastel (creative director for Oddity) in a 4chan post: "Leo lives way up north so he's bundled up with a scarf and leathers." # ↑ Page 54. Stated by Zephys, concept artist # ↑ According to Pastel in an update # ↑ From Pastel in a Discord chatroom